#RSRSeesTheUSA Day 50: Page, AZ & Le Chee Chapter, Navajo Nation
Two prime geological wonders added to the list today: Horseshoe Bend, the coolest entrenched meander I ever did see and which I got to scramble and clamber all over, because it’s still mostly unfenced…
… and the reputation-rightfully-deserved Antelope Canyon (where I’m pretty sure any photo you’ve seen of a slot canyon has been taken… including the photo at that wikipedia link), where I was guided into a seemingly insignificant crack in the ground to discover a whole world of seriously wondrous things.
Dammit… I just wrote a whole eloquent thing about listening to my body and how well Navajo parks are run, and SQUARESPACE ATE IT.
*sigh*
*attempts to reconstruct*
Between this and Monument Valley, the Navajo Tribal Parks are where it’s at: best managed, best crowd control, clearest visitor policies, and best decision making that puts the preserved land first.
There’s a paragraph from the Navajo Parks & Recreation site that I noted when I was reading up on the canyon that now makes much more visceral sense having been there:
To older Navajos, entering a place like Antelope Canyon was like entering a cathedral. They would probably pause before going in, to be in the right frame of mind and prepare for protection and respect. This would also allow them to leave with an uplifted feeling of what Mother Nature has to offer, and to be in harmony with something greater than themselves. It was, and is, a spiritual experience.
So yes, this was a very exciting day.
It was also the second consecutive day that left me surprisingly tired by the end. It surprised me, at least, because they haven’t been very physically taxing days or days where I’ve slept poorly. But because I’m trying to live all holistically these days, and do things like listen to my body, then I guess I should pay attention to that surprise. <kidding / not kidding>
OK, but joking aside, I am trying to listen to my body more, so I am paying attention to what it has to say. And what it says?
My body says that paying detailed attention for hours is draining. Having your breath go fast around every new corner of the road requires energy. Spending days at high altitude in direct sunlight is no longer part of my daily routine (the way it was living in Colorado).
My body says that AWE IS TIRING.
It’s time to make space between the experiences for the processing and internalizing time that those new experiences need to cement themselves. So, no, I’m not going to push on and explore a whole new national park or hiking area tomorrow. I’m going to have a slow day exploring locally around Kanab, which I haven’t really got to see yet, what with all the driving in and driving out. I’m going to let the awesome things I’ve been seeing have their time to sink in.
Cloud of the day: honestly, the little wispy slips of cloud that slid by overhead in Antelope Canyon were not what I was paying closest attention to, but here’s a picture of it, anyway, because the rocks co-starring are pretty cool
